NEWS & PRESS

The UK National Astronomy Meeting (NAM) 2002 takes place between Tuesday the 9th and Friday the 12th of April at Bristol University, where the Astrophysics Group and the Department of Physics will be the hosts. The National Astronomy Meeting (normally held annually) is one of the most important regular gatherings of astronomers in the UK. Sponsored by the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) and the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC), the NAM is expected to attract about 300 professional astronomers from the UK and beyond.

Sessions in Bristol will feature recent research on galaxies, stars and planets and science from some of the world's top observing facilities, including the orbiting XMM-Newton and Chandra X-ray Observatories, the recently commissioned 8-metre Gemini telescopes, the Very Large Telescope (VLT), and the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope. On Tuesday and Wednesday there will be special sessions on the chemistry of star formation and on Wednesday evening, Professor Malcolm Longair of Cambridge University will give a public talk on Astrophysics and Cosmology in the 21st Century.

Media representatives are cordially invited and press room facilities will be available from 9 a.m. on Tuesday 9th April through to the end of the meeting at 12.30 p.m. on Friday 12th April. Media registration is free.